


An alternate afternoon

by ocadktda



Category: SKAM (Italy)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-18
Updated: 2019-02-18
Packaged: 2019-10-31 03:54:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17841962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ocadktda/pseuds/ocadktda
Summary: or another version of the Tabasco clip. It picks up with the contrabbandieri leaving school, talking about the party that evening. In this version though, Sana has promised to give Marti the weed back that evening and now Marti is in a hurry to deliver what he promised her. Until he sees someone on his way home.





	An alternate afternoon

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ladyballs_and_manboobs](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladyballs_and_manboobs/gifts).



\- Are you really not coming to the café for a quick match? 

\- No, bro, not today.

\- Not today. Great, we'll have to ask that weird dude with the sideburns again. 

\- Hope you know we need the weed tonight. What's up with your extortioner anyways? 

\- She'll be there too, she's going to give it back, ok? And now bye, I have to get home and still get a report she practically forced me to do finished. 

\- It's what you deserve, honestly. Still can't belive she's blackmailing you with it. 

\- You were damn stupid, bro. Didn't manage to take care of a tiny bag of weed for more than a half an hour. 

\- Don't bite off more than you can chew, is what I always say. 

\- Hehe! Good one, Luchi!

\- Ok, get off of my back, guys, I'm not in the mood. Plus, I told you already, she said she won't tell anyone about it. 

\- I wouldn't trust Sana Allagui if my life depended on it. 

\- Come on, bro, she ain't that bad.

\- Eva's not here, you can drop the act.

\- Ok, guys, I really don't have time for this. See you tonight! 

The walk towards the bus stop is one of his favourite parts of the day. And then the walk home. Two short paths, every morning and afternoon. His feet know the pavement even without him looking and that gives him a stability he can't quite explain. No matter how nasty a day turns, these few steps are free from any burden. Nothing and no one can distract him from enjoying these minutes. 

He leans against the frame of the bus stop shelter, hand automatically reaches for his phone in his pocket. His head moves in unison with his hand and pulling the phone out his eyes land on the boulevard vertical to the street he's waiting on. A tiny frame crouched between two benches, a frantically bobbing head and dark curls that eerily resemble those of... He furs his eyebrows in disbelief but doesn't look away. Just then he hears a bus approaching, looks up to check the number: it's his. He can still see the black shape through the windows of the bus. 

\- What are you waiting for, son?

Martino just shakes his head to the driver, still somewhat paralysed and watches the bus drive by him until he gets a better view of the boulevard again. 

_What are you even thinking? It's not him. And if so, what? What are you going to tell him?_

He's already walking towards the benches and the sight is getting clearer. Oh, it is him. And he's staring at a .. trashcan?  
Three pigeons are walking in circles around him as if they too were trying to figure out what this person is doing. Martino scans around to see if anyone else is looking and that's enough for Niccolò to notice there's someone standing next to him.

\- This is going to give in any minute now. See how full it is? People have been throwing in their trash all day even though they clearly saw it was full. Noticed it this morning on my way to school. See? There's a whole on the bottom, no way it will hold much longer.

\- Ok.. And what .. do you plan on doing when it breaks in? Pick it up by hand?

\- Exactly. 

\- You're obviously joking, right? That's .. disgusting. Where do you plan on putting it if the can is broken? 

\- I came prepared. - Nico pats his pocket with a huge, proud smile and pulls out a grey garbage bag. - Stole it from the cleaning lady at school. Shhh! - puts his index finger on his parted lips. - And you are going to help me with it. 

\- I'm definitely not going near that. It's your wierd plan, you're not dragging me into it. Also, what about your hands afterwards? - Martino doesn't think he was ever this sick to his stomach.

\- I ... didn't think it through? Haha! It's not the end of the world, I live three blocks away. Now let's wait. 

And wait they do. Less then two minutes after someone throws a plastic coffee cup towards the coveted garbage can, it barely even touches it and surely, seconds after both boys are picking up dirty tissues, banana skins, even an old shoe and can't help but laugh histerically. 

The bag is almost full and Martino suddenly remembers his research for the radio he's supposed to be doing right now. He checks the time on his phone and decides there's still time.

\- See, it wasn't so bad? - Nico's smile makes even the awful smell around them almost bareable. - Come on, let's go home and clean up.

__________

Dirty, smelly hands, stolen looks and sudden smiles make the walk to Niccolò's house quite strange for a Friday afternoon, but it feels just right and too exciting to ditch in favour of reading about Ipantica or whatever her name is.

Stepping inside the house has a monumental tone to it and Martino can't help but think about the Fares family name, then finds himself repeating it in his head while he follows Nico through the hall. He's overcome with that feeling you get when you walk into a museum and you already know there's not enough time to take it all in, but you try to look in every direction at the same time to absorb as much as you can. 

Nico leads them to the nearest sink to wash up. Finally. 

\- Is anybody home? 

\- Is anybody home? - Nico screams it in the direction of the bathroom door - Seems like no one's answering. - he turns off the tap and adds a smug smile to it - You know, I like to reward myself after such a successful deed. Come! 

Nico puts his hand on Marti's backpack as he gives him a little push out of the bathroom. He then leads them across the corridor into what looks like the kitchen, straight to the spice rack above the stove. He goes for a bottle that looks like it's filled with tarragon and holding it in his hand, turns to Marti smiling like a kid in a candy store. 

_What is going on?_

\- My little secret. 

He opens it and proceeds to dig into with two fingers. Pulls out a tiny bag of weed. Marti's eyes go wide in disbelief.

\- How..? Why..? You keep your weed in the kitchen? Right in front of your parents' eyes? But what..

\- That's the beauty of it. It's the last place they'd look for it. Believe me, they raid my room on the regular. 

\- But.. don't they ever cook? 

\- Of course they do, but they both hate terragon. I don't think they ever opened this bottle to be honest. Marisol did once though. 

\- Who's Marisol? 

\- Our housekeeper. She found it once. Makes me pay her a chocolate bar twice a week too keep quiet eversince. And she's picky too! Only likes the one with rum from Modica. 

Nico can't help but laugh, but Marti is genuinely shocked. 

\- But what if they do end up finding it?

\- At this point I almost want them to find it just so I can tell them that I've been hiding it in here for the last two years. 

And there's that laugh again. His curls, ears, shoulders and hips all jolting at once and it's the most genuine thing Marti has ever witnessed. 

They enter Nico's room, open the window on either side for some proper ventilation and end up sitting on the edge of the bed. Nico rolling the joint gives Martino a minute to look around and take in the idea that he's actually there, in the room Nico studies in and gets dressed, sleeps and dreams. And.. draws a lot, apperently. Little sketches everywhere, on walls and doorframes, crumpled paper balls on the desk and under it. 

\- What do you listen to with those? - Nico points to the headphones hanging out of Marti's jeans pocket. 

\- Oh! This and that. You know.. well, ok it's mostly SBTRKT and Moderat .. and Jamie xx these days - Marty is holding the headphones in his hands, constantly looking at them as if the music he's talking about were in there for Nico to see - but yeah, I'll bop along to anything really. 

\- Anything? - Nico smiles and blows out some smoke, then scoots back to the top of the bed and pulls out a tiny mp3-player from between the two pillows. He starts looking around, lifts the sheets on his side of the bed, checks under it, like he can't find something. 

\- We can use mine! 

Nico plugs in Marti's headphones in the little device and turns it on after passing the joint over to Marti again. He slowly scrolls through quite many tracks, all marked by a number only, and the first feeling that hits Marti is disappointment - for a moment there he hoped he'd see some proper titles, take a mental picture of some of it and store it for later. 

\- So you know all of them by number? - cockiness in his voice. 

\- I do actually. - and there's that warm smile again - I'm a huge fan of Brian Wilson. Ever heard of him? 

\- No, I don't think so, no. 

\- He's a musical mastermind, played several instruments even before school and get this: he was left deaf on one side when he was a child. Isn't that crazy? I'm sure you heard of the Beach Boys, though, haven't you? 

\- Oh, ok. Now I know what you're talking about. But I didn't know he was deaf. 

\- And that doesn't cover the half of it. 

But he doesn't continue, presses play on number 27 and gently pushes one speaker into Marti's right ear, the other one in his left. His fingers touching Martino's lobe is a feeling that heats up Marti's entire body. Nico sits just a little closer, his left knee touching Marti's right thigh. There's more smoke between them than air at this point and hushing it away Nico lands a pat on Marti' right shoulder. It's all happening very fast and extremely slow at the same time. Nico closes his eyes and hums to the song, utters some of the words here and there. Marti can't take his eyes off of him and the proximity invites him to examine Nico's every pore without being too obvious about it. 

_Who even listens to songs like this? Who are you? So incredibly beautiful._

\- What's it called? 

\- This one? Whatever Happened. 

They listen to a couple more, beats getting faster, smiles getting louder, Nico wiggling more on the bedcover and then he suddenly jumps up.

\- I crave something sweet. It's time I opened the vault! - Nico opens his nightstand drawer and gives Marti a sign to come over. - Anything you like? 

_Anything I like?_

Marti's eyes stay on Nico and he can't help but lick his lips. No answer. They stand there looking at each other as seconds freeze and everything in the room dissolves around them. Nico's lips slowly raise into a soft smile, and Marti, as if looking into a mirror, does the same. 

_Kiss me._

\- There's only one Mars bar left, mind if I have it? - they both crouch to take a closer look at the contents of the drawer. Lots of candy and nougat bars, several bags of Faccine and a pack of salted Pavesi. Marti opts for the latter. 

They take their snacks to the windowstill and stay there for another while. There's enough room for them to stand side by side, yet Nico remains somewhat behind Marti, raises his right arm above Marti's shoulder every now and then, shows him something he notices in the busy street. They look at the passers-by, Nico's favourite windows on different buildings and chew on their snacks to the rythm of city noises. 

Until Marti's phone buzzes in his pocket. 

Message from Sana: "Include her commentary to Diophantus's Arithmetica or don't come at all."

\- Fuck! 

_Fuck. Fuck._ The report. Fuck! The party. He looks at the time. 17:47 

\- Everything alright? 

\- Yeah.. No. Uhm. Yeah, I kind of lost track of time and have to finish a report by 8 pm this evening. 

\- Hmm. Ok.. ? Wouldn't have pinned you down as the exemplary pupil who finishes their homeworks by Friday evening. - Nico's laugh manages to ease Martino's momentary panic a bit, so much so that he huffs out a laugh too. 

\- I'm really not. No. It's just that I ... I promised someone I'd do it so that... - Marti pulls his signature headshake and waves his hand as a sign of giving up - It's a long story. 

\- Another long story, huh? - Nico raises his eyebrows to tease and smiles. 

Marti doesn't get it. 

\- The one from the radio meeting last week? On the torretta? 

\- Oh! - Marti somehow forgot his own words from that afternoon, even though he tried to rebuild the whole conversation in his head repeatedly afterwords, his memory right now is only of sunshine on freckles, Nico's smile and him saying "noi due". Focus, Marti. - It's the same story, actually. 

\- Ok. Maybe you can tell me sometime. - there it is, that same look from the terrace, that smile that clearly promises Marti something, he just can't really figure out what yet. 

Marti is lost again in Nico's smile, but another buzz from his pocket wakes him up again. It's Gio calling this time, probably because of the party later. 

\- I have to go. 

He pauses and waits for Nico to say something, ask him not to leave, ever. Hold him down, not let him out of the house? Instead he gets a tiny smile and a promise. 

\- Ok. Next time we check out the trashcans over in your neighborhood. Deal? 

Next time. Next time.  
Just nods in agreement and almost forgets to leave again. 

__________

His chest feels twice it's normal size as he steps out on the pavement. It's already started to get dark which reminds Marti of his damn report to go to, yet he feels his feet anchored to the ground, a strong pull and temptation to stay and linger some more around Nico's house. What is he doing alone in there now? Is he still his room? He can't help but stare at the large windows of the beautiful building, trying to get a peek of Nico's image through them, when someone bumps into his shoulder and what looks like a group of friends enter the front door. They're pretty loud and all laughing. 

\- I bet Nico doesn't even know yet! 

Nico? This Nico? His Nico? Maybe he's not going to be alone after all. What are they up to? Must be fun. He's overcome by a warm feeling and the realisation that, even though Niccolò had plans, he didn't ask Marti to leave. He could have even joined them. 

Martino's curiosity is creeping up on him, he feels his fingers and toes twitching, now he definitely wants to peek in, his eyes immediately locked on the windows again, where.. Nico is standing with the warmest smile on his face and a little wave towards Marti. 

_Hey._

His arms don't work, can't reciprocate the wave, but Martino makes sure to smile back with his every particle. A smile big enough so it lasts Nico till next time. They'll find each other again. He sees one of the girls approaching Nico from behind, but another buzz in his phone makes him look down towards his pocket and when he looks back to the window they're gone. He lost them. 

Message from Elia. "Do you know the address?" Marti stars to type and off he goes to find the next bus stop.


End file.
